“A remarkable positive change” for Greece characterizes the recent recovery of the investment grade by the rating agency Standard & Poor’s Steve Forbes, President of the Forbes Media company. In his self-hosted What’s Ahead podcast, he discusses how the country has achieved an “amazing turnaround” since the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis came to power, and managed to become a “role model” for other countries.

“In 2019, a conservative party was elected, bringing to power a new Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. He understood that the only way for this country to get out of its deadlock was to proceed with tried and true pro-growth economic measures.“, notes Steve Forbes and adds: “The corporate tax rate has been reduced from 29% to 22%. Job-eliminating Social Security contributions fell by nearly 20%. Income tax surcharges introduced during the crisis were abolished. Fiscal reforms continued. The Mitsotakis government has begun to implement a serious program of privatization of state assets, which in the long run is expected to lead to a good flow of revenue and create a less suffocating economy. The way the country welcomed foreign investment, especially in high technology. Public debt as a percentage of GDP is steadily declining. The result is a robust economy that is a pleasant ‘dissonance’ in a dismal economic environment”, notes the President of Forbes Media.

Forbes draws a comparison with the previous SYRIZA government, which he says resisted structural reforms and nearly cost the country to stay in the euro. “At some point, the voters even chose a stupid, left-wing regime that clumsily tried to take Greece out of the European Union,” he says.

Steve Forbes also urges other governments to follow Greece’s example and “emulate its exciting reforms”, as he says. “No wonder the prime minister and his party recently won re-election with ease. Now, much more needs to be done,” he emphasizes, concluding that “Greece’s direction is a model for the kind of policies that most nations, including the U.S., badly need to emulate.”